Bloomington Thunder now the USHL’s Central Illinois Flying Aces
One of the two newest entries in the United States Hockey League has gone through a bit of a change in the days leading up to its fourth season.
Formerly the Bloomington Thunder, the Central Illinois Flying Aces joined the USHL before the 2014-15 season with the Madison Capitols. The Flying Aces have announced not only a new name, but a new look.
The Thunder had a look similar to the Vancouver Canucks in the past, but a new jersey, shown off on both the league and team website having been shown off at a Parade in Bloomington, on Monday (Sept. 4, 2017) featuring red, white and two shades of blue (navy and light).
The jersey, which a somewhat vintage look has a World War II war plane type image on the front, complete with a snarling mouth drawn on.
The Thunder and other USHL teams are heading into training camps this week as teams look to trim their 30-man rosters (and affiliates) announced on Sept. 1 down to 23 in time for the start of the regular season.
Preseason contests get underway on Sept. 14 and the highlight of the warm ups will be the USHL Fall Classic, a Showcase tournament at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Pittsburgh Sept. 27-Oct. 1 involving all 17 USHL teams.
That will wrap up the pre-season with regular season games commencing on Oct. 6.
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jimmerdenhollander@gmail.com
Born and raised in Ontario, Canada and moved to the state of Wisconsin in my late 30's. I worked at various newspapers and magazines in various sports positions for 25 years before changing careers five years ago. Now I am streamlining my focus on hockey only and in particular, all levels of hockey in the American Midwest.